Gymshark is bringing its superhero fantasy to life in New York City, for one day only.
On May 3, the British gym wear brand is launching an immersive pop-up experience in Manhattan’s West Village to celebrate the long-awaited return of its cult-favorite Onyx collection, with pieces retailing from $40-$100. The Onyx Collection is a line of men’s premium performance wear renowned for its sleek, futuristic designs and high-performance materials. Originally launched in 2017, the collection quickly gained a cult following.
The pop-up taps into superhero lore, with the design inspired by superhero outfits and a narrative that its lifting division’s creative director, David Laid, is a modern-day Bruce Wayne. Hidden inside Cooper Classic Cars, the store will include everything from a “supercomputer” and memorabilia-style packaging to easter eggs for hardcore fans of the original Onyx collection. The theatrical, content-first activation underscores Gymshark’s commitment to blending community, storytelling and commerce, according to Gymshark representatives. And it comes as the company prepares to open its first permanent U.S. flagship just blocks away.
“This one is all about belief — belief from the consumer that we’re listening, and belief from us that we can deliver something they’ve been asking for, for years,” said Ash Wilson, men’s head of brand at Gymshark.
The last Onyx drop was five years ago, and Onyx gear regularly sells on resale platforms for over $600. “You go on our socials, and it’s constant: ‘Where’s Onyx? When’s it coming back?’” said Wilson. “We finally said: ‘It’s time.’”
This activation is also a strategic build-up to Gymshark’s launch of a 13,000-square-foot flagship store at 11 Bond Street, set to open later this year. The four-floor space will house a full retail offering alongside community hangouts, live events and workout studios. It will be the brand’s first physical presence in North America and a landmark statement for a company still best known as a digital-first disruptor. Gymshark operated exclusively online from its founding in 2012 until October 2022, when it opened its first permanent physical store on London’s Regent Street. From 2017 to 2022, it grew from $50 million in annual revenue to $484 million, exclusively through social media marketing and DTC sales.
“The very first event we did in the U.S. was in a 1,000-square-foot pop-up on Mercer Street,” said CEO Ben Francis in a February statement. “To now be opening a flagship that’s 10 times that size here, in North America, is surreal.”
The NYC store follows recent brick-and-mortar openings in Westfield Stratford City, in London, and in the Dubai Mall. Flagships in London, Manchester and Amsterdam are also on deck for later this year. Currently, the brand has three stores.
But the optimism around physical retail stands in contrast to recent news that the company is undergoing a sweeping restructuring. Gymshark has entered into a consultation period with 296 employees, nearly a third of its workforce. On April 29, the company reported record revenue of £607.3 million ($757 million) for the year ending July 2024, but its pre-tax profit fell to £11.8 million ($14.7 million), marking the third consecutive year of decline, driven by ongoing investment in omnichannel infrastructure. In early 2023, the company laid off staff at its Denver headquarters as part of a broader global reorganization.
The latest earnings show growing pains, but Gymshark is staying on course.
Inside the Onyx activation, fans will find an archive display of previous Onyx editions, hidden changing rooms, a posing room, a Batman-style motorbike and the infamous Onyx case, a prop once used in the line’s campaigns. Visitors wearing vintage Onyx will receive priority entry.
“This is about more than gymwear,” said Sam Kane, Gymshark’s head of communications. “It’s about legacy. It’s about listening. We say, ‘We do gym’, but we also do community.”
The influencer strategy is focused on native content. Creative director David Laid “accidentally” posted to Snapchat a slide with information about the pop-up from an internal deck, and the brand’s athlete ambassadors teased NYC travel plans on Reddit. The goal was to turn community curiosity into viral buzz, without ever needing a traditional launch announcement.
This tactic created a groundswell of user-generated content, with TikTokers analyzing the leaked images, Reddit threads decoding clues and fans posting excited comments across Gymshark’s social platforms.
“Snapchat is where the real conversations happen,” said Wilson. “That’s where they follow David day-to-day. Instagram is for after the fact. But Snapchat and Reddit? That’s the engine room of hype.”
Kane added, “David is genuinely involved in the creative [process]. He wants to be in the shoots. He reviews the ideas. He’s the face and the architect. It makes the storytelling feel authentic.”
Though the pop-up will only last just 24 hours, it hints at how Gymshark will bring its online presence to physical spaces, one pop-up, one secret room, one raised logo at a time.
“We want Onyx to feel like it never left,” said Wilson. “And we want this to be the beginning of something bigger.”
